System and method for supporting deployment in a multitenant application server environment

Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for supporting deployment in an application server environment. A resource, for example an application or library, can be deployed to different resource groups in different partitions in a domain, to a resource group template referenced by the different resource groups, or to a domain-level resource group. One or more additional deployment operations can be performed on a deployed resource by a partition administrator or a system administrator. A deployment API can be provided to enable a plurality of deployment clients to perform the deployment operations, and can be used to derive partition information and target information for the deployment operations when the information is not provided by a partition administrator. Different deployment scopes are defined to allow a same resource to be deployed in different partitions of a domain and outside any partition in the domain.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for supporting deployment in an application server environment, comprising:
 one or more computers, including an application server environment executing thereon; an application server domain, in the application server environment, that includes 
 a resource group template, 
 a domain-level resource group, and 
 a partition with a partition-level resource group, 
 wherein the resource group template defines a resource and is configured to be referenced by the domain-level resource group and the partition-level group, and 
 wherein the referencing causes the defined resource in the resource group template to be deployed in each of the domain-level resource group and the partition-level resource group; 
 a deployment application programming interface (API) that interacts with the domain to derive information for use in one or more of a plurality of deployment operations received at the domain; 
 wherein each of the plurality of deployment operations is performed on at least one member of the group consisting of the resource group template, the one domain-level resource group, and the partition-level resource group; and 
 wherein each of the plurality of deployment operations is based on at least one of information received from an administrator and information derived from the deployment API. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the administrator is selected from the group consisting of a system administrator and a partition administrator. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of deployment operations include a deploy operation, an undeploy operation, a redeploy operation, an update operation, and a distribute operation. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the administrator uses one or more deployment clients to perform the plurality of deployment operations, wherein the one or more deployment clients are selected from the group consisting of a deployer application, deployment commands, JSR-88 API, JMX deployment API, ant tasks, Maven goals for deployment, an application server console, and a middleware web console. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the derived information includes information for the partition and information for a virtual target associated with the partition-level resource group. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5 , further comprising one or more resources to be deployed to at least one of the resource group template, the domain-level resource group, and the partition-level resource group. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein each of the one or more resources is one of an application, and a library. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 6 , wherein a deployed resource in the resource group template can be customized by a member from the group consisting a partition administrator and a system administrator. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 6 , wherein when the resource includes one or more modules, the one or more modules comprises a comma separated list. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 6 , wherein an instance of a runtime Mbean is created when a resource is deployed to a partition. 
     
     
       11. A method for supporting deployment in an application server environment, comprising:
 receiving, at an application server domain in an application server environment executing on one or more computers, a plurality of deployment operations, wherein the domain includes 
 a resource group template, 
 a domain-level resource group, and 
 a partition with a partition-level resource group, 
 wherein the resource group template defines a resource and is configured to be referenced by the domain-level resource group and the partition-level group and 
 wherein the referencing causes the defined resource in the resource group template to be deployed in each of the domain-level resource group and the partition-level resource group; 
 deriving, using a deployment application programming interface (API) that interacts with the domain, information for use in one or more of the plurality of deployment operations received at the domain; and 
 performing, based on information specified by an administrator, each of the plurality of deployment operations on at least one member of the group consisting of one of the resource group template, the domain-level resource group, and the partition-level resource group. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the administrator is selected from the group consisting of a system administrator, and a partition administrator. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of deployment operations include a deploy operation, an undeploy operation, a redeploy operation, an update operation, and a distribute operation. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the administrator uses at least one deployment client to perform the deployment operations, wherein the at least one deployment client is selected from the group consisting of a deployer application, deployment commands, JSR-88 API, JMX deployment API, ant tasks, Maven goals for deployment, an application server console, and a middleware web console. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the derived information includes information for the partition and information for a virtual target associated with the partition-level resource group. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising one or more resources to be deployed to at least one location from the group of locations consisting of one of the resource group template, the domain-level resource group, and the partition-level resource group. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein each of the resources one of an application and a library. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 16 , wherein a deployed resource in the resource group template can be customized by a member from the group consisting a partition administrator and a system administrator. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 16 , wherein when the resource includes one or more modules, the one or more modules comprises a comma separated list. 
     
     
       20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform the steps comprising:
 receiving, at an application server domain in an application server environment executing on one or more computers, a plurality of deployment operations, wherein the domain includes 
 a resource group template, 
 a domain-level resource group, and 
 a partition with a partition-level resource group, 
 wherein the resource group template defines a resource and is configured to be referenced by the domain-level resource group and the partition-level group and 
 wherein the referencing causes the defined resource in the resource group template to be deployed in each of the domain-level resource group and the partition-level resource group; 
 deriving, using a deployment application programming interface (API) that interacts with the domain, information for use in one or more of the plurality of deployment operations received at the domain; and 
 performing, based on information specified by an administrator, each of the plurality of deployment operations on at least one member of the group consisting of the resource group template, the domain-level resource group groups, and the partition-level resource group.